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For accounting firms

AI help for busy season, without sending client data to consumer chatbots.

Zrico gives your preparers and staff Claude and GPT in a workspace that belongs to your firm: separate from every other customer, under your sign-in rules, and never used to train AI models.

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Claude and GPT Your own workspace

What firms use it for

The writing and reading around the numbers.

The models are good at drafting, summarizing and explaining. They are a starting point for a professional’s work, not a substitute for it, and they can get figures and rules wrong.

Confidentiality

Controls that match how firms handle client data.

Each firm has its own application and databases at its own address. Client files are never stored alongside another firm’s.

How we protect your data

  • Your firm’s own workspace

    Each firm has its own application and databases at its own address. Client files are never stored alongside another firm’s.

  • No training on your data

    The AI providers we use do not train their models on your prompts, files or answers.

  • US-only AI processing

    Requests are sent only to US processing regions of the AI providers.

  • Access you control

    Invite-only email sign-in, with two-factor authentication offered to every user and required for admins. Microsoft 365 sign-in for your own tenant is rolling out now.

  • Retention settings

    Keep conversations through the engagement, or have them deleted automatically after a period you set.

  • Nightly encrypted backups

    Data is encrypted in transit and backed up every night, encrypted, to storage off the server.

For the details of what is sent to each AI provider, what is stored and for how long, read our AI data use statement.

Section 7216

Tax return information and AI tools.

Internal Revenue Code section 7216 and the regulations at Treas. Reg. §301.7216 restrict how tax return preparers use and disclose tax return information. Before using AI on that information, a firm should work out where it fits in these rules.

  1. The general rule: consent

    Using or disclosing tax return information for purposes other than preparing the return generally requires the taxpayer’s written consent. For individual income tax returns, Rev. Proc. 2013-14 sets out the required format and wording of those consents.

  2. Exceptions that may apply

    Treas. Reg. §301.7216-2 lists exceptions that do not need consent, including disclosures to a person providing auxiliary services in connection with preparing a return. Whether an AI workspace falls within an exception depends on your facts and how you use it.

  3. What we suggest

    Evaluate your use with your own counsel. Many firms choose to obtain client consent in the Rev. Proc. 2013-14 format as well, which avoids relying on an exception, and to limit what return information goes into any AI tool at all.

Where Zrico helps

Return information you choose to use stays in your firm’s own workspace, is not used to train AI models, and is processed only in US regions of the AI providers. Whether and how your firm uses tax return information in it, and with what consent, is your firm’s decision.

Your other obligations

Where an AI tool fits in the rules you already follow.

Data security plan

IRS Publication 4557 and the FTC Safeguards Rule

The FTC Safeguards Rule applies to tax preparers, and IRS Publication 4557, Safeguarding Taxpayer Data, walks through what it expects, including a written information security plan (WISP). If your firm adopts an AI tool, it belongs in your WISP: who may use it, what data may go into it, how access is controlled and how long data is kept.

  • Who may use it
  • What data goes in
  • Access control
  • Retention

Our security overview describes the controls you can reference there.

Professional standards

AICPA due care and confidentiality

For AICPA members, the Code of Professional Conduct’s due care principle means AI output is reviewed by someone competent to judge it before it reaches a client or a return. The Confidential Client Information Rule (ET 1.700) and its interpretations, including those on sharing information with third-party service providers, still apply when the service is an AI tool.

Your state board of accountancy may have its own rules, and Circular 230 applies to practice before the IRS.

This page is general information, not legal or tax advice. It summarizes section 7216, its regulations and related guidance for convenience and is not a complete statement of them or of your obligations. Consult your own counsel about your firm’s situation. Zrico is not for patient health information, and AI output can be wrong and must be reviewed by a qualified professional before you rely on it.

Give your firm a private place to use AI this season.

$39 per seat per month after a 30-day free trial, 5-seat minimum. Your workspace is ready minutes after you sign up.

Your card is charged when the trial ends. Cancel any time before then and you pay nothing.

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